The invention relates to a plate mould for continuous casting, in particular for the continuous casting of steel slabs, comprising a carrying frame and broad-side walls supported therein and delimiting the mould cavity, between which end walls are arranged, the broad-side walls being adjustable normal to the axis of the mould cavity by adjustment means and clampable relative to each other by clamping means.
A mould of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,793. In order to exclude safely a co-reciprocation of the mould side walls with the reciprocating strand, the side walls are screwed to a holding means of the carrying frame, supporting these side walls, by screws that are accessible from the mould lower side. One of the broad-side walls, with the known construction, is rigidly mounted to the carrying frame and the second broad-side wall is mounted so as to be movable in the direction normal to the axis of the mould cavity in order to be able to perform movements caused by changes in elongation of the end walls. These movements are made possible by adjusting a play between the screws of the broad-side wall accommodating the upwardly directed vertical forces and the holding means supporting the same. However, jamming might occur in the event of an insufficient maintenance of the mould, in particular if the end walls have assumed their original format after cooling of the mould prior to a new casting onset. If, in this case, the broad-side wall does not follow the contraction of the end wall, a gap may form between the broad-side walls and the end walls, which is responsible for an outbreak of melt at the onset of casting.
The invention aims at avoiding these difficulties and has as its object to provide a mould that is equipped with a mounting means for the broad-side walls, enabling a perfect movement of the broad-side walls in the direction normal to the axis of the mould cavity, which is simple to maintain and adjust by the maintenance personnel. Furthermore, this holding means is to provide an easy installation and removal of the mould insert, i.e., of the broad-side and end walls.